Zema says he prefers to support someone to be a candidate in 2026 – 07/12/2023 – Politics

The governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema (Novo) said this Wednesday (12) in an interview with Globonews that it is not on his “radar” to focus on the 2026 presidential elections.

“I’d rather support someone than be a candidate,” he declared.

Zema is appointed, along with the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), as a possible candidate from the right field after former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) was declared ineligible.

Despite this Wednesday’s statement, Zema himself has previously admitted the possibility of running for president.

At the first round victory party in 2022, upon hearing shouts of “president”, the governor: “If we make a good government, why not?”

In this Wednesday’s interview, Zema also responded to a publication he made on social networks quoting a sentence by the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. “We were the first to state that the more complex civilization becomes, the more the individual’s freedom must be restricted,” posted the governor at the beginning of the month.

The publication took place a day after Bolsonaro’s trial at the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). The two were allies in the last election campaign.

To Globonews, the governor stated that the post is “an alert”. “Those who follow me on social networks know that I publish phrases early in the morning and at night. I really like phrases and thoughts”, said Zema.

“The publication of that sentence was much more a warning that I wanted to give, because anyone who knows my position knows that the only thing I am not is someone like Mussolini”, added the governor.

The head of the executive branch of Minas Gerais also said that he is the opposite of Mussolini who, according to Zema, believed in an omnipotent state. “What I do here is the opposite. I have dried the state,” he said.

Asked if he would make a mea culpa for the statement, the governor apologized if he had offended anyone. “That was not the intention.”